|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Trial of drug is backed by MP
Express & Star, Wolverhampton Friday 22 Aug 2003 Lichfield and Burntwood's MP has welcomed the news that patients at a Midlands hospital will take part in trials to find out if cannabis can provide pain relief after an operation. The trials are being carried out at hospitals including Walsall Manor Hospital, in the hope of measuring the effects of cannabis plant extract against other pain-relieving drugs. Michael Fabricant MP, who once famously admitted he smoked cannabis as a student, said: "I am pleased that the Medical Research Council has initiated this £500,000 project into the effects of cannabis on certain medical conditions. "I personally believe that no drugs, including Class B drugs like cannabis, should be withheld from anyone if prescribed by a doctor and a qualified consultant." Doctors carrying out the study for the Medical Research Council are hoping to recruit 400 surgical patients to take part. Each patient is to be randomly assigned to one of four oral pain-relieving treatments containing either standardised cannabis extract, tetrahydrocannabinol (an active ingredient in cannabis), a standard pain relieving drug, or a placebo. The drug will be administered orally via a capsule containing a prescribed dose and the pain relief and side effects will be assessed over a six-hour period. Mr Fabricant revealed that a constituent with MS contacted him several years ago after police discovered he was using small doses of cannabis to relieve his condition.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!